Ellacombe apparatus

Ellacombe apparatus is a method for performing change ringing of church bells requiring only one person. Unlike the traditional method, where the bells are spun 360 degrees to sound them and one person is needed for each bell, instead the bells are kept static and a hammer is struck against the inside of the bell. Each hammer is connected by a rope to a fixed frame in the bell-ringing room. The ropes are taut, and yanking one of the ropes will strike the hammer against the bell.

The system was devised by Reverend Henry Thomas Ellacombe of Gloucestershire, who first had such a system installed in Bitton in 1821. It is believed he created the system to make bell-ringers redundant, so churches did not have to tolerate the behaviour of unruly bell-ringers just so they could have their bells expertly rung.

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